Various organizations have a need to transport valuable items of one kind or another between physically separated locations in a secure manner. Possibly the most common example of this requirement is the transfer of banknotes from a central or local storage point to one or more Automated Teller Machines (ATMs). Due to the popularity of ATMs they require frequent replenishing with banknotes and therefore a relatively large amount of money is generally in transit between one or more financial institutions and ATMs. The secure transport of this money and the security of personnel employed in this task is naturally of great concern to financial institutions who run ATM networks.
The banknotes dispensed by an ATM are held in individual cassettes, sometimes known as cash cassettes, each cassette containing banknotes of one particular denomination. Cassettes are loaded with the banknotes at a central location and transported to the vicinity of an ATM by a secure vehicle. Upon arrival nearby to the ATM the cassettes of banknotes are carried by security personnel from the secure vehicle to the ATM where they are loaded into the ATM. During the transport from the secure vehicle to the ATM the cassettes are at their most exposed to theft and the security personnel are exposed to the risk of attack by persons wishing to steal the cassettes.
When cash cassettes are transferred between secure vehicles and ATMs they are typically housed within a container to provide additional security. Cash cassettes are placed into the container prior to be being transferred from the secure vehicle, and removed from the container as they are loaded into an ATM. The transfer of cassettes from a secure vehicle to an ATM typically occurs between a vehicle at the road-side and a building. Accordingly, the transfer is commonly known as an “across the pavement” transfer and the containers used to house the cassettes during the transfer are known as Across The Pavement (ATP) devices.
ATP devices and/or cash cassettes typically include spoiling systems or other security devices which are activated upon theft of the device and/or cassette. Such systems are disclosed in European patent EP1196897 and European patent application 04256771.9. The security systems may be activated by a timer which is set to monitor the time of transit of the ATP device between the secure vehicle and the ATM, commonly known as the walk time. Should the security personnel become delayed between the security vehicle and the ATM there may be insufficient time on the timer to reach the ATM and there is therefore the possibility of an incorrect activation of the security system. The security system may also be activated in other manners, for example by the ATP device being opened incorrectly. However, that may not be a deterrent as thieves may believe they can overcome the security system and therefore successfully access the cash within the cash cassette.
The successful transfer of ATP devices from secure vehicles to ATMs and the loading of the cash cassettes from ATP devices into the correct pick unit of an ATM is reliant on a number of actions being executed correctly by the security personnel. In order to open an ATP device, and to open the ATM itself, the security personnel must carry identifiers to access the ATP device and the ATM. Upon arrival at the ATM the security personnel must unlock the ATP device and the ATM and then correctly insert the cash cassettes into the correct pick unit of the ATM prior to relocking the ATM. The security personnel must therefore carry the code or keys to access the ATM and ATP device. This is both inconvenient and allows the possibility of a thief obtaining the code/keys and accessing the ATP device or ATM.
There is therefore a requirement for a security system which overcomes the problems of a time-activated security system and that also addresses the problems associated with access to the ATP device and/or ATM.